Patience, boredom and motivation

Sorry to hear your struggling with your Christian walk. I think this happens to many Christians. You know there is more out there but you have trouble getting things moving. Hopefully some others will address more of those spiritual aspects of losing zeal for God.
What I suggest is too look at your life and see what it is that is keeping you from having God's fullness. From this inventory is there a plan you can hatch to help you in practical ways? You might be disillusioned now because you are not taking advantage of opportunities with God. In several instances where I was unhappy, moving to a new location really helped. The same can be said of your church. If it is stale and does nothing for you it might be time to move on, or it might be time to get more involved. Those are items that need a closer look. The walk in the Spirit is far from ordinary. Normal is your enemy, faith to take the right risks is your friend. One of my teachers goes so far as to suggest miserable Christians are the most unhappy people on earth. Sometimes sin is involved but sometimes it is our lack of a willingness to follow what God is wanting us to do. It is by faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God.

Too often we look at failure as being our patience but often it can be our faith. We have to personalize the promises of God to us individually in ways that we truly have confidence that God is going to do what we ask from Him. This personalization process is where we hear God through the revelation of his word and from the Holy Spirit's guidance. It is when the light breaks out and you know that you have what you have asked of God.
Patience too can be elusive and even deceptive. Sometimes we are waiting for something that will never come. If we are praying for things according to our lusts, and not God's will, this might be the case according to James 4. Sometimes patience is not a virtue either. I mean you might be waiting for a job or mate in your hometown. Meanwhile God wants you to move on to a new place where there is a great opportunity but you are too stuck. No amount of patience is going to meet that need because your eyes are closed to the open door. The violent take the kingdom of God by force... Matthew 11:12.
God in His mercy can take the criticism though it is better not to grumble but rather fellowship with him concerning the issues where you are stuck. Our example of faith should be the two spies that said they can take the land. Again, you too may have to actually do something that puts you in a position to receive the things that you are asking. Sometimes too you can miss your promise that God may have put on your heart in the past. In this case, it will not reappear in that form. Instead of being bitter though of what you have missed, you have to give it up and move on to the new plan that God puts in front of you. Never think though God has given up on you.

My writing is based on the experience of wandering in the desert too many years, only to get plugged back into a new vision. I pray you can get back on track. That you can find better fellowship and opportunities in God. That you can renew your faith and patience that God really is going to do something on your behalf to provide a more abundant life. God bless

I used to work on a crisis hotline. People would call with all sorts of difficulties. I began to see a common thread. People would often pursue some indulgence or stimulation and find that they brought struggles and difficulty into their lives. As they worked to resolve the difficulty, they would often find they had worked themselves up to the realm of boredom. Often they would return to some pursuit of sensation and return again to difficulties from which they had to extract themselves to return again to a sate of boredom.

One might think that boredom was the highest state man could achieve. However, there is a door out of boredom that few find. This is the door of selflessness. It is through this door that Christians are expected to pass.

2Co 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

This is the realm of Christ-likeness and happiness. God does not exist to provide us consumptive stimulation. He hopes that by trusting in His Son, we would grow and mature to be like him.

Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Hello @torgor67, here are a couple of quotes for you to consider with ideas that I hope you'll find helpful (regarding the things that you mentioned in your OP). The first one is very similar to @timf's in the previous post, something that I've found/continue to find to be true in my own life.

Being helpful/doing good for/giving to others is a wonderful way to help get our eyes off of ourselves and is often all that is necessary to solve the kinds of problems that you mentioned in the OP. If you don't know where to begin, perhaps your pastor can help get you plugged in with one of your church's ministries or a parachurch ministry of some kind, and/or knows of a person or group of people who could use your help.

Another thought to consider (which is also from Elisabeth Elliot) is this one.

The center of lives as believers concerns our walk before/our growing relationship with our loving, heavenly Father. We are to, more and more, "practice His presence" in our lives (the idea of practicing the presence of God in the day to day/moment to moment of my life is one that I first heard of when I read a book by that name, The Practice of the Presence of God, just FYI. In it, the author, Brother Lawrence (1614-1691 AD), describes how he began to include God in even the most mundane parts of his daily life (cleaning dishes, for instance), doing all to please, honor and glorify Him while helping others to boot (e.g. Matthew 5:16; Galatians 6:9-10).

The REALLY cool thing is, being included as the biggest part of our moment by moment lives is what our loving, heavenly Abba, our Creator, Holy God and King of the Universe seems to want from us as His adopted children, and what could possibly be better than that?

The Bible is very helpful with this, as I believe that it tells us how get this kind of relationship with God going, as well then how to maintain it going forward, in the following, short passage.

1 Thessalonians 5
16 Rejoice always;
17 pray without ceasing;
18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

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I know that this seems like a lot, but no worries, the most important thing is to just get started. An easy way to do so is this, remember to take note of everything/everyone around you throughout your day and look for things in your life, even the littlest/simplest of things, to rejoice in and thank God for. A kindness from someone else, the opportunity to help someone else, or even something like a bright, warm sun and a balmy summer breeze hitting your face, for instance, how easy it is to rejoice in/be thankful to God for such simple but wonderful blessings as those are throughout your day, yes

It also never hurts to remember/rejoice in/thank Him for all of the things that He has done for us/blessed us with, beginning at the foot of the Cross. You will even get to the point of being able to rejoice in and thank Him for the daily trials and tribulations that you face, knowing that He will use it ALL, even the things that we perceive as being "bad" in the moment, for our good, yes .. e.g. Romans 8:28.

As pastor and theologian Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892 AD) once said (concerning all of the difficulties that he faced in his life),



Praying for you!

God bless you!!

--David

Hello again @torgor67, here's another verse that you may find helpful (one of my favorites in the Bible, actually ). It is a verse that has a wonderful command/admonishment for us to obey with a wonderful/wondrous promise attached to it from God that He will fulfill when we do.

Psalm 37
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

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The key to obeying our half of the verse (and to having God, then, fulfill His half, the promise half) is found in ALWAYS chasing after Him, exclusively, NEVER after the things that we think that we want from Him.

BTW, take care when you read this verse, because if what is being asked of us in the command half of the verse is not rightly understood (this is a common problem, believe it or not), we end up turning our loving relationship with the Lord into something that it was never meant to be, a quid pro quo, and the Lord Himself, then, into something that He is not/never will be, a Cosmic Sugar-Daddy (many read the command half of the verse and come away believing that it tells us to, "delight the Lord" (to get Him to give us what we want) instead, so be careful not to fall into that trap).

God bless you!!

--David
p.s. - something else that continues to help me always be interested in spiritual matters is choosing to listen regularly to good Christian teaching throughout the week, something that is far easier to do today because of the Internet (when I became a Christian 39 years ago at age 30, we had to find and listen to such teachings on Christian radio). Here are links to some of the programs that I listen to/watch (which you can now do 24/7 thanks to the Internet).



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